PROPAGATION. 



61 



dry loam with their "bases exposed, not "buried. In a 

 warm house where the sun can shine upon them, 

 these stems will emit roots from their sides ; after- 

 wards the lateral huds develop and form shoots. 

 For the propagation of Stapelias the spring is most 

 favourable, as at this season after roots have formed 

 the plants make vigorous growth. 



St em- cuttings (Large).— It is often found 

 desirable to shorten the stems of specimen Tree- 

 Ferns, Cycads, Pandanuses, Yuccas, large Aroids, 

 &C, where they have grown too tall, and must 

 therefore either he sacrificed or else reduced in 

 height. For Tree-Ferns all that is necessary is 

 to moss round the stem at the height where it is 

 intended to he cut off, and if a good body of moss is 

 placed there, and kept moist, roots will be formed in 

 time, when the stem may be cut through, and the 

 mossed portion planted in the soil. For such plants 

 as Dicksonia, and some of the Cyatheas, the stems of 

 which are always encased in a thick layer of active 

 roots, the lower portion of the stem may be at once 

 removed, and the top planted in the soil. There is 

 no danger of losing plants thus treated if the house 

 in which they are growing is kept a little moist and 

 warm till the tops have become established. Tree- 

 Ferns are often imported with only the exposed 

 portion of their stems, which have been cut away 

 from the rooted portion and sent on a long voyage ; 

 and even after this treatment they seldom fail to 

 grow on being planted out and kept moist. Cycads 

 always root freely, quite as freely as Succulents, so 

 that the thickest stems may be cut through, and the 

 top used as a cutting. Pandanuses being, when 

 large, furnished with aerial or stem roots, may be 

 lowered either at once, or by partly severing the 

 stem, mossing up the stem above the wound, and 

 allowing it thus to remain till roots are formed, 

 when the lower part of the stem may be removed. 

 Yuccas root freely either in water or in a warm 

 moist soil, as also do the large stout-stemmed Aroids, 

 such as Dieffenbachias, Colocasias, &c 



Hardy Trees and Shrubs.— Under this 

 head are included the numerous trees, shrubs, 

 and under-shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, 

 that are hardy in this country, and for the propa- 

 gation of which cuttings are often employed. As 

 a general rule all hardy plants may be increased 

 by means of cuttings, which root more or less 

 quickly if placed under favourable conditions. For 

 most of them these conditions are afforded in pre- 

 pared sheltered borders out of doors, only compara- 

 tively few of them requiring artificial warmth to aid 

 them in the formation of roots. Although it is 

 possible to do a great deal without the use of hand- 



lights or frames, yet it is always as well, at least for 

 choice plants, to supply the cuttings with the extra 

 protection afforded by such means. Many of the 

 plants included here may be increased by means of 

 cuttings at almost any time of the year, but the best 

 results are obtained from cuttings inserted in autumn, 

 with the exception of a few kinds that succeed best 

 in spring. Those portions of plants which are the 

 production of a season's growth are, generally, best 

 fitted to be used as cuttings ; and it is in the autumn, 

 when the young shoots are healthy and mature, and 

 filled with the food stored up in their tissues during 

 vigorous growth, that they are in the best condition 

 to form plants when made into cuttings. In de- 

 ciduous plants the leaves by the autumn will have 

 almost fulfilled their purpose, and will soon fall. 

 Cuttings of such plants, if put in before the fall 

 of the leaf, will have the benefit of the food contained 

 in these leaves, which will return into the cutting, 

 and assist in the development of roots, and also will 

 help to sustain the cutting till it is able to support 

 itself. From this it will be obvious how much better 

 results are likely to be obtained from cuttings formed 

 of leafy shoots than from those the leaves of which 

 had fallen. Evergreens, whose leaves remain on the 

 plant all the winter, and do not as a rule fall off till 

 after another crop of leaves have been formed, are 

 even better favoured when in a cutting state, as the 

 leaves help to support the cutting till roots are 

 formed, and continue to assist in the formation of 

 new growth even after the cuttings have become 

 plants. 



It is not intended here to deal at length with the 

 methods of propagation by means of cuttings which 

 are practised for the numerous plants grown out of 

 doors ; for the majority of them the same method 

 answers. For Roses and Conifers separate instruc- 

 tions may be necessary, after which the method most 

 suitable for cuttings of nearly all hardy trees and 

 shrubs will perhaps be sufficient to enable any- 

 intelligent cultivator to apply it to whatever plants 

 he may desire to increase by this method. 



It may be mentioned here that ringing (i.e., the 

 removal of a narrow strip of bark all round that part 

 of the shoot intended to form a cutting) is sometimes 

 found to be an excellent plan to adopt for some 

 plants difficult to increase in the ordinary way. 

 " The accumulated vegetable matter in the callus, 

 which is formed on the upper edge of the ring, when 

 brought into contact with the soil, or any material 

 calculated to excite vegetation, readily breaks into 

 fibres and roots. If a ring be made in the shoot 

 which is to furnish the cutting, a callus will be 

 created, which, if inserted in the ground after the 

 cutting is taken off, will freely emit roots. A 

 ligature would perhaps operate in a similar manner, 



